TY - JOUR
T1 - Biochar enhances the cadmium tolerance in spinach (Spinacia oleracea) through modification of Cd uptake and physiological and biochemical attributes
AU - Younis, Uzma
AU - Malik, Saeed Ahmad
AU - Rizwan, Muhammad
AU - Qayyum, Muhammad Farooq
AU - Ok, Yong Sik
AU - Shah, Muhammad Hasnain Raza
AU - Rehman, Rabia Abdur
AU - Ahmad, Niaz
N1 - Funding Information:
This research is part of a Ph.D. thesis of the first author. We acknowledge Higher Education Commission, Pakistan, for financial support. Moreover, we acknowledge the International Foundation for Science and The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) for the research funding under grant number C-5591.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.
PY - 2016/11/1
Y1 - 2016/11/1
N2 - Cadmium (Cd) has no known role in plant biology and is toxic to plants and animals. The Cd mainly accumulated in agricultural soils through anthropogenic activities, such as sewage water irrigation and phosphorus fertilization. Biochar (BC) has been proposed as an amendment to reduce metal toxicity in plants. The objective of this study was to evaluate the role of BC (cotton stick at a rate of 0, 3, and 5 %) on Cd uptake and the photosynthetic, physiological, and biochemical responses of spinach (Spinacia oleracea) grown in Cd-spiked soil (0, 25, 50, 75, and 100 mg Cd kg−1 soil). The results showed that Cd toxicity decreased growth, photosynthetic pigments, gas exchange characteristics, and amino acid and protein contents in 52-day-old spinach seedlings. The Cd treatments increased the concentrations of Cd, sugar, ascorbic acid, and malondialdehyde (MDA) in plants. The application of BC ameliorated the harmful effects of Cd in spinach plants. Under Cd stress, BC application increased the growth, photosynthesis, and protein contents and decreased Cd concentrations and MDA contents in plants. The maximum BC-mediated increase in dry biomass was about 25 % with 5 % BC application in control plants. It is concluded that BC could ameliorate Cd toxic effects in spinach through changing the physiological and biochemical attributes under Cd stress.
AB - Cadmium (Cd) has no known role in plant biology and is toxic to plants and animals. The Cd mainly accumulated in agricultural soils through anthropogenic activities, such as sewage water irrigation and phosphorus fertilization. Biochar (BC) has been proposed as an amendment to reduce metal toxicity in plants. The objective of this study was to evaluate the role of BC (cotton stick at a rate of 0, 3, and 5 %) on Cd uptake and the photosynthetic, physiological, and biochemical responses of spinach (Spinacia oleracea) grown in Cd-spiked soil (0, 25, 50, 75, and 100 mg Cd kg−1 soil). The results showed that Cd toxicity decreased growth, photosynthetic pigments, gas exchange characteristics, and amino acid and protein contents in 52-day-old spinach seedlings. The Cd treatments increased the concentrations of Cd, sugar, ascorbic acid, and malondialdehyde (MDA) in plants. The application of BC ameliorated the harmful effects of Cd in spinach plants. Under Cd stress, BC application increased the growth, photosynthesis, and protein contents and decreased Cd concentrations and MDA contents in plants. The maximum BC-mediated increase in dry biomass was about 25 % with 5 % BC application in control plants. It is concluded that BC could ameliorate Cd toxic effects in spinach through changing the physiological and biochemical attributes under Cd stress.
KW - Cotton sticks
KW - Pyrolysis
KW - Trace metals
KW - Vegetables
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84981287940&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s11356-016-7344-3
DO - 10.1007/s11356-016-7344-3
M3 - Article
C2 - 27502564
AN - SCOPUS:84981287940
SN - 0944-1344
VL - 23
SP - 21385
EP - 21394
JO - Environmental Science and Pollution Research
JF - Environmental Science and Pollution Research
IS - 21
ER -